By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
With Nigerians still aghast over the decision of the two chambers of the National Assembly (NASS) to vote against electronic transmission of election results in Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu has reiterated the Commission’s stand that only the deployment of technology can guarantee electoral credibility.
The Senate and House of Representatives had on the eve of their annual vacation a forthright ago voted in the both Chambers that INEC must seek the permission of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Senate before it can embark on electronic transmission of election results.
But INEC Boss has made it abundantly clear that most nations of the world including many African countries are increasingly moving away from the manual processes of conducting their elections by deploying more technology to further guarantee electoral credibility.
Prof. Yakubu stated this in his remarks at the meeting with the visiting Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) of Liberia held at INEC Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
The INEC Chairman told his Liberian counterpart pointedly that: “In Nigeria, we (INEC) are convinced that the use of appropriate technology is one of the best guarantees for the transparency and credibility of the electoral process”.
According to the erudite Professor of Political History and International Studies, “the truth is that nations are increasingly moving away from the manual processes by deploying more technology to further guarantee electoral credibility.
” I wish to commend you for the bold step you have taken in this regard. As requested, we will share our experience with you to enable you make an informed decision for Liberia”, he said.
Prof. Yakubu also said: “I am glad to note that you have decided to move away from the manual register by conducting a pilot biometric voter registration in Liberia as early as November this year. It is also gratifying that you have chosen to understudy Nigeria’s processes in detail, particularly the choice of biometric technology ahead of your next General Election which, like Nigeria, holds in 2023”.
Going down the memory lane the INEC Chairman said: “I wish to assure you that we will continue to strengthen the long-standing partnership with Liberia in the spirit of peer support.
“You may recall that twice in the last three years, our technical staff worked with your Commission on the register of voters. The initial assistance facilitated the conclusion of your 2017 General Election.
“Again, our staff returned to Liberia for the same reason ahead of the mid-term Senatorial election and constitutional referendum held in December last year. Based on the lessons learnt from both exercises, our technical staff recommended that Liberia should introduce the biometric registration of voters”, he said.
He therefore said, “in our interactions over the next two days, we will demonstrate to you and your team the processes for both the online and physical registration, the equipment used for the exercise, staff requirement and training, the procedure for cleaning up the field data, the compilation and printing of the register for elections and the system of storage and retrieval of information.
“We will also take you to some of the registration centres in Abuja for practical and on-the-spot experience of the exercise”, INEC boss concluded.
In her remarks, the visiting Chairperson of NEC, Republic of Liberia, Mrs. Davidetta Browne Lansanah, thanked
Nigeria’s INEC Chairman (Prof. Yakubu) for the assistance his Commission have been giving to its Liberian counterpart.
Said she: “I, on behalf of my country, Liberia; NEC and my delegation thank most sincerely my brother INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu do a accepting to host us. We came to learn from Nigeria and we believe that this visit will yield us good results. We appreciate everything Nigeria has done for Liberia especially towards perfecting our electoral processes”.
The Chairperson of NEC Liberia came along with other top officials of her Commission like Floyd Osley Sayor, Commissioner, Chairman Steering Committee for 2023 General Election and Samuel Isaac Zalin, Director Data Center.
